- The ref’s dictate the outcomes of the games more than the players themselves do. I’m of the opinion that when there’s a significant mismatch between two teams (let’s say one team’s stars are injured, or the other team is just simply vastly superior on offense or defense), the ref’s take it upon themselves (perhaps on the league’s orders) to help “even the playing field”, which means calling fouls on one side that they won’t call on the other side, confusing and bewildering everyone including both team’s coaches, the players, the commentators, and the fans watching. This keeps the gambling system better engaged, since predictable one-sided blowouts don’t make for lots of gambling revenue.
- Most of the big name stars are constantly injured, which doesn’t help sell seats/get people to tune in.
- Personality is prohibited. This highly sanitized product is pretty lame to watch. If a player just delivers a nasty dunk and then even so much as looks at the guy they just dunked on, that’s a foul. Players can’t even trash talk each other without the ref’s making it a huge deal and giving them both fouls. That is part of the essence of highly competitive basketball. Imagine giving Michael Jordan or 75% of the players in his era endless fouls simply for the most basic taunting. It would quickly become an unwatchable product that embarrasses all participants, and the players would retreat into their personality shells. People want to see shit talking, they want to see passion, they want to see anger/comedy. It’s exciting. It goes viral. This is not rocket science, NBA.
- region-restricted games are hilarious (awful)
- it’s overpriced
- outside of Inside the NBA with Shaq, Kenny, Chuck, and Ernie, the other show hosts are pretty devoid of personality, and they very rarely have something interesting to say, so there’s no point in watching them.
- I don’t know much about the AAU circuit, but I have heard many folks say that it hasn’t been good for the league. Am curious to learn more there